Sonny Rhodes will be at Wondercon in San Francisco on Sunday March 1 at the California Browncoats table F6-F7. I’m not sure when he’ll arrive, as he is coming right from the airport, but he is looking forward to seeing everyone. Please come and show your support!

Sonny Rhodes, our favorite Firefly theme song blues musician, is in need of a hand up. He is a very proud man, but circumstances related to medical conditions are preventing him from working, and he’s trying to keep a roof over his head.

Sonny’s wife Ann called me with these details and hoped the Browncoats could help. Sonny hasn’t performed since October 2008, except for once or twice against his doctor’s wishes when he had to keep the power from being shut off and pay rent, and doing that made his condition worse. He just had an emergency hernia operation and needs to have two hip operations as soon as possible. Ann said he’ll likely be out of work for a few more months and, besides being in a lot of pain, is naturally quite worried about paying medical and rent bills. Sonny has vowed to be there for the Browncoats in the future and would appreciate any financial assistance that may be possible via the PayPal Donate link on his MySpace page

Jason Palmer has released his beautiful new Inara portrait and she looks as good as I’ve ever seen. Even more exciting, he’s announced a limited edition Giclee set including sketches, album and fancy carrier with the Serenity logo.

“The set includes 12 Giclee textured art prints (13×19): Mal, Wash, Zoe, River, Simon, Kaylee, Jayne, Inara, Book, Serenity the ship, the Operative, and a surprise print (only available with purchase of the set). Prints are signed and numbered; limited edition of 300. Also, 12 character production sketch pages are included, as well as a title page. The set is presented in a silver polyethylene album with acid free page inserts, and a matching carrier with shoulder strap. Both feature Serenity logo. Prints can be removed from the album and framed if desired.”

Dragon*Con is fast approaching, coming up August 29th over Labor Day weekend. This looks to be one of the best with three Big Damn Heroes joining us. Make sure to check out the DragonCon homepage and the Whedonverse track page for additional updates.

Do yourself a favor and try to come into town at least the day before to experience concerts and pre-party fun. Plus, you’ll have a chance to see a little of the city and take in some interesting Civil War history at Kennesaw, a fantastic aquarium, the Coke museum, and more. That’s what I try to do every year.

Creator Joss Whedon has announced the air dates for Doctor Horribles Sing-Along Blog featuring Nathan Fillion as Captain Hammer, Neil Patrick Harris as Doctor Horrible, and Felicia Day as Penny. The episodes will air on the official drhorrible.com website:

The episodes will be viewable online only until July 20th, then made available for downloadable purchase, followed by a glorious DVD with wonderful extras. Read Joss’ enlightened wisdom about this creation at Whedonesque. There’s also a great official fan site doctorhorrible.net.

Yes the moment we’ve been waiting for, Firefly is being released on Blu-Ray in high-definition glory on September 23rd, and is supposed to have new commentaries. Since this retails for $90, preordering and saving 30% through Amazon seems like a great way to save money and support Firefly!

The fine clothing replica makers AbbyShot are evaluating the interest in a new addition - a red Jayne hoodie complete with Jayne’s hat and red dragon tattoo. Looks to be a wonderful clothing addition “if” they get enough interest. So check out their site and share your thoughts:

I’ve always wondered where the name AbbyShot comes from. “During the late 1950’s, Abby Singer was an Assistant Director who began a trend destined to become a key term in the film industry. At the end of a long day of filming, Abby would tell the crew that they would film one last shot… “and then one more!”. Abby got the last laugh here, since by doing this he was letting the crew know it was safe to begin packing up the equipment, thereby saving time and money. Gradually, film production companies around the world were using this “Abby Singer Shot” as part of their filming parlance – often times without even realizing that it originally referenced a real person! We also feel that by offering movie-inspired clothing to the public, that we’re giving them “one more shot” to experience something special from their favourite movies.”

“We couldn’t be happier to announce, after over 24 months of research and prep, development of the Serenity Artisan Replica is now underway. And to celebrate this momentous occasion, we’ve launched www.fireflyshipworks.com, an interactive online diary that will track development of the replica. We will be posting regular updates with lots of pictures; there will also be contests, exclusive items, and freebies as well.”

Expected June 25th is an addition to the fine Serenity RPG from Margaret Weis Productions called “Serenity Adventures.” It is “an anthology-style adventure product that features contributions from both established and new talent in the game industry including James M. Ward (Metamorphosis Alpha), Alana Abbot (Into the Reach), and James Davenport (Serenity Role Playing Game).”

Morena Baccarin will be a guest at Dragon*Con 2008. Besides Firefly/Serenity, Morena has appeared in Stargate SG-1, Stargate: The Ark of Truth, and has completed filming for Boy in The Box. She also provided the voice for Black Canary in multiple episodes of the animated series Justice League Unlimited.

Jewel Staite will be a guest at Dragon*Con 2008. Besides Firefly/Serenity, Jewel plays Dr. Keller on Stargate: Atlantis, and has the lead roll in the feature The Tribe, which depicts the story of five young adults shipwrecked on a deserted island off the coast of Latin America where they encounter a lost tribe of savages.

Adam Baldwin is scheduled to attend Dragon*Con 2008, which is great news as he’s always a fun and lively speaker. He was the voice of Clark Kent in Superman: Doomsday, and currently stars as Major John Casey, a National Security Agent, whose main objective is protecting Chuck Bartowski and the vital government information stored in his brain in NBC’s action-comedy Chuck.

Dark Horse has released preview images for the upcoming Better Days comics, another anticipated Serenity prequel series. Writing by Joss (of course) and Brett Matthews with art by Adam Hughes. #1 Released March 12, 2008, #2 released April 9, and #3 released May 14.

“Better Days revisits everyone’s favorite space cowboys in this thrilling, action-packed adventure, with Mal and his crew on a heist that promises a big payoff–what’s surprising is that this heist just might make good on that promise.”

Summer Glau, who stars in Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, will appear at Wondercon on Sunday. Browncoat tables are setup at F8-F9 and Brian from Done The Impossible will be around. Should be a fun show!

If you haven’t watched the series, it does justice to the original films and does a great job of developing the story. Summer plays a very believable Terminator!

Dark Horse has beautiful Serenity and Fruity Oaty Bar lunch boxes in the works to be released March 12, 2008 for $14.99. With the Serenity logo in brilliant litho-printed color on one side, and the ship herself on the other, bordered by the exotic intergalactic currency created for the film, this makes a striking lunch box for any Serenity fan to tote around.

I don’t know if I’ll be storing lunch in these works of beauty, but they would be fun for storing a lot of my Firefly collectibles.

Find some Serenity during the hectic holiday season at the Big Damned Flanvention, the first Firefly/Serenity convention in the US. Leave the cold behind and come visit our Big Damned Heros in Los Angeles on the weekend of December 9-11.